Donor governments asked to review Cambodia aid if NGO law is passed
Cambodia's PM Hun Sen is under fire from human rights groups over a proposed law requiring NGOs and associations to register. Photograph: Rolex Dela Pena/EPA |
Human rights groups call on UK, US and Australia to apply pressure on Cambodia if severely restrictive draft law is adopted
Friday 26 August 2011
Mark Tran
guardian.co.uk
"The
lesson is when push comes to shove, when development partners threaten
to take action, that kind of thing makes the Cambodian government sit
up and take notice"
Human
rights organisations are calling on donor governments to reassess their
aid programmes to Cambodia if the country passes a law that can be used
to muzzle local and foreign NGOs.
Ten groups have written to
William Hague, the foreign secretary, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary
of state, and Australia's foreign minister Kevin Rudd, sounding the
alarm on a draft law now before Cambodia's council of ministers.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), Global
Witness and others say the draft law, if passed in its present form,
threatens to severely restrict civil society's right to freedom of
association and expression.
"As
such, the law will limit the ability of Cambodia's development partners
to ensure that programmes reach their intended grass-roots beneficiaries," the letter says.
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